


Finding each other

by Moonyflower



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Found Family, Slow Burn, and a lot of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28657443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonyflower/pseuds/Moonyflower
Summary: Tissaia is dragged in a completely new life when she accepts to foster a kid thanks to the advice of one of her best friends. Things become even more complicated when she meets Yennefer's kindergarten teacher.
Relationships: Vanielle of Brugge/Tissaia de Vries
Comments: 24
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've finally managed to write the first chapter of this AU, expect a lot of fluff and complicated feelings later on in the story.   
> For now enjoy Tissaia and a very sassy Llona.   
> And thanks to @/biiisssshhhhh who is my lovely beta reader.

Tissaia’s morning hasn’t been great at all, actually, it has been terrible. There is nothing more unnerving and unnecessary than having to deal with the incompetence of her co-workers without even having had lunch yet. 

She checks the clock, there are only forty minutes left of her lunch break and Llona is nowhere to be seen. Again.

She’s not offended, Tissaia De Vries has known Llona Laux-Antille since elementary school (or, as Llona likes to call it, “the dawn of times”) and she knows perfectly well that, even if the woman has many talents, being punctual is not one of them. 

As time goes by she finds herself turning around more often to look at the street through the big windows of the restaurant. It’s pouring outside and Tissaia doesn’t have an umbrella with her, that is a big problem. She really hopes Llona will have one. 

It could be a good idea to get something to eat anyway, she thinks. Unfortunately, there are no waiters in sight, the only one that had tormented her until a few minutes before has run away after Tissaia refused to order for the third time. 

She’s about to get up to get her food directly at the counter when she hears the bell of the door behind her tingle, making her notice that someone has entered the restaurant.

It’s Llona, perfectly dressed and perfectly late as usual. She stops in her tracks for a second right in front of the doors and looks around to find the table Tissaia is sitting at. 

“Good morning Tissaia, I’m sorry to be late but I’m working on such a difficult case and I couldn’t leave my office” That’s Llona's favourite reason to arrive late. Sometimes it’s true and sometimes it’s a way to say that she was with Amavet. As Tissaia watches her taking off her jacket and sitting down she wonders which version is true today. 

“Good morning to you too, should we order something? I’m starving and I need to be back at the office in thirty minutes.” Tissaia asks. Llona nods, she’s too distracted by something on her phone to pay proper attention to her friend. It must be a really difficult case if she’s willing to ignore Tissaia. 

When the waiter arrives Tissaia tells him immediately both of their orders. She has those memorized like the back of her hand, after all, they have been coming to the same restaurant every Friday for twelve years now and they have both always taken the same thing. 

Even when the plates are in front of them Llona doesn’t put her phone down. She looks concerned. 

“This case is really stressing you out, what is it about?” Tissaia has the time to eat one quarter of her ridiculously expensive salad before her friend decides to put her phone down and answer the question. 

“Oh yes, I was actually hoping I could talk with you about that.” With her? What would Llona’s possibly have to say to Tissaia about one of her cases? She has no idea but she’s getting more interested with every second that goes by. 

“So, I’m handling a case of child neglect, horrible stuff really. The kind of thing that makes you wonder what’s wrong with the world, you know? Sometimes I wonder how there can be parents like that.” Llona explains, moving her hands in the air to emphasize her point.

“Llona? Get to the point please, we don’t have much time.” It’s true, she only has twenty-five minutes before having to go back to her office and spend the rest of her evening listening to Stregobor’s horrible voice. 

“Yes, sorry. Basically, I almost managed to prove that the parents are terrible people who don’t deserve children. We just have one more sitting in court to do, but this creates a big problem. They have six children and, at the moment, they obviously can’t stay with them. Amavet’s department has managed to find foster families for almost all of them.” 

At this point, she has stopped eating altogether and she’s rummaging through her purse.

From Tissaia’s perspective that doesn’t look like a great idea, Llona’s handbag is the hot pink equivalent of Mary Poppin’s bag and there is no way to find something without having to take everything else out first. 

“That sounds great, good for those kids.” She comments. 

Llona is still too busy searching for something to answer. After one minute of making an absolute mess of her purse, she finally slams a pile of documents on the table. 

“Well, not for all of them. They have a little girl. Her name is Yennefer, she’s eighteen months old and sadly she had health problems in the past.” Llona explains handing a sheet of paper to Tissaia. It’s a child’s medical report. 

The child in question suffers from kyphosis or at least suffered. The report indicates that the child had to undergo a surgery for it and it looks like she’s doing just fine now. 

“She’s the reason why I started this case, her parents never brought her to the visits and social services had to intervene.” She looks genuinely concerned about the kid, Tissaia can’t blame her. The case looks like a terrible affair, not a thing that a baby should ever have to go through in her life. 

“Thanks to her first foster family we were able to let her have the surgery and have a good recovery but now they can’t take care of her anymore.” Llona is fidgeting with her rings and scratching the wood of the table with her nails, that doesn't look like a good sign. 

“I can’t send her to an orphanage Tissaia,” Llona says after finally finding the courage to look her in the eyes. She’s using the same expression she always has when she needs something. The problem is, Tissaia is still uncertain about what she wants and why she’s being so hesitant about it. 

“Why are you telling me this Llona? I thought private information like this couldn’t be shared for privacy reasons.” Tissaia asks while giving the papers back. 

Now, an idea is starting to form in the back of her mind and she doesn’t like it at all. 

“Well technically yes but we need foster parents to know the whole picture before giving them the child.”

For a second Tissaia thinks she heard it wrong. Maybe she has a hearing problem she didn’t know about until now? No, it can’t be, her hearing is just fine. Maybe it’s a joke. It must be a joke, there is no way this is a real thing that Llona is asking her.

Unfortunately, her friend doesn’t look like she’s kidding. Actually, Tissaia has never seen Llona looking more serious in her entire life.

“You cannot possibly be thinking that I can foster this child!” Ok her voice might have gone quite over the decent limit for a public space. For her own sake, she needs to be calmer and more contained. 

“Listen to the whole story first. It wouldn’t even be a lot of time, just until we find someone who wants to adopt her. And don’t you even dare look at the damn door like you want to run away or something, I’m not forcing you to do anything I just came at you because you are my last resort.” 

Tissaia wasn’t thinking about that, she knows that fleeing in the middle of the conversation would be terribly rude and, obviously, offend her friend. 

“I’m not going to leave now, don’t worry. But this doesn’t mean I agree, it just means I’m willing to listen to you.” She reassures her. 

After Tissaia’s promise to not run away Llona looks relieved, almost like she really considered the possibility of having to chase her friend down the street. That’s clearly ridiculous, Tissaia thinks, she would never do something like that. Not in a million years. 

“I’m going to tell you quickly why we haven’t found anyone yet, Yennefer has had a surgery and she’s completely fine now. However she needs check-up visits and might be subject to complications, this makes her appear complicated to the eyes of foster families. But you are a doctor, you could take care of her better than most” 

“I think you are forgetting the fact that I’m not a paediatrician. Technically I’m not a doctor either, I just recruit interns for hospitals remember?” Tissaia explains. Actually, her job is a little more complicated than that but she doesn’t have the time to say more, besides Llona knows it perfectly. 

“Yes, but I also remember that you did your internship years and, even if you discovered that wasn’t for you, you still know those things. And you have a pretty flexible work schedule.” 

That’s true, there is nothing Tissaia can answer to that that could make Llona back off. 

“I’m not even in the system. And you know how much time it takes to have your request accepted.” That was probably the worst reason she could come up with since Llona is now grinning and rummaging through her stack of papers once again. 

“Oh, Tissaia you remember that Amavet works in that department right? That stuff is just a bunch of paperwork and, since this is an emergency, he could make it quicker. It would take only a couple of months and, of course, a bunch of meetings with her caseworker.” Llona explains giving her a little brochure with the image of a parent and a child and, written in big letters on it, the words “My journey to foster a child”. 

Tissaia looks at the paper, none of the things written on it looks like something she would consider in life and it’s not like she really needs it anyway to make her decision. She has already made scenarios in her mind and reflected about the various possibilities. Now she has an answer. 

“No, I’m sorry. This kid had an unfortunate life but I’m certainly not the best person to take care of her.” It’s not like she wants the kid to end up in an orphanage, obviously, but she also can’t take care of her. Tissaia is a creature of habit, her days and her weeks are always planned, fostering a kid would quite literally turn her life upside down.

“That’s ok, I completely understand,” Llona answers, she looks a bit bummed.

However, she regains her confidence quickly when they start eating again and the subject of the conversation shifts toward other topics. They finish their lunch break as usual and they even walk back to Tissaia’s workplace together, both of them under Llona’s umbrella. All this fostering issue is already out of Tissaia’s mind by the time that she goes back at her office.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go with the second chapter!   
> For this I have to thank my amazing beta reader Emma aka @/biiisssshhhhh on twitter for helping me and giving me confidence.

After lunch Tissaia’s workday goes on as usual. She does a couple of interviews, files in some paperwork and, before she knows it, she’s already driving back towards her apartment.

The afternoon wasn’t exactly as bad as the morning, Tissaia thinks, stopping in front of the door to search for her keys. The brochure about fostering kids is still in her bag and it’s blocking her from seeing inside.

She doesn’t even know why she kept it in the first place; maybe she should just throw it in the bin at the end of the hallway? No, there is no reason to go all the way there and, sending a silent thank you to the stylist that decided to put pockets on her skirt, she decides to put it away instead. She can always throw it away later.

Once she’s inside she takes some time to hang her coat on the rack and take off her high heels, putting them back in the closet before finally walking to her couch and sitting down between the pillows.

It’s just for a minute, Tissaia thinks, stretching out her legs to shake off the soreness the heels gave her, only until she can find the strength to get up to cook dinner.

Her apartment is still in the same way she left it that morning, the library full of old classics and literature books, the armchair with its usual blanket draped over it, the tea table and even the plants on her windowsill are still perfectly in order, everything is silent.

Tissaia has never had problems with being alone in her own home. Today however she almost feels like the emptiness of it is unbearable. Not even the noises of the traffic, filtering in from the window that faces the street, are able to fill in the silence.

Almost instinctively she takes out the flyer Llona gave her to distract herself, the crumpled paper crunches lightly as she flattens it with her hands to make it easier to read. There is nothing special about it, it just explains, in very colourful letters, some basic stuff about fostering a kid.

She should just get up and throw it away, but for some reason, she can’t bring herself to do it. There is a voice in her mind that keeps reminding her that there is a little girl out there that she could be helping.

As the youngest of four sisters and an unwanted child, Tissaia is no stranger to the concept of neglect. She knows how disinterested looks and refusals to listen to calls for help can do to a kid, and right now there is this baby somewhere that is living the same thing she lived through but in an even worse way.

Can she really just ignore this? Would it make her any better than the people who simply decided that the child was not good enough to receive attention and care? She has no actual obligation to this child, there is no one pointing fingers at her and somehow she still feels like she’s letting a part of herself down. It’s that part, the one still crouched in the dark of her childhood bedroom repeating to herself that she doesn’t need her parents or anyone to have a good life, that is making her feel so guilty.

Tissaia sighs quietly as her hands fall back on her lap, still holding the piece of paper, and fixates her gaze on the ceiling. The lights coming from outside her apartment are creating luminous patterns above her and, for a while, she just stares at them, following their movement and losing herself in the memories of her childhood.

She has never been the kind of person to make decisions based on emotions; however, there is part of her that feels somehow compelled to analyse things from the emotional perspective for once.

What if she’s really Yennefer’s last chance before ending up in an orphanage? It’s not like she wouldn’t be taken care of. There would be people that know how to work with children, but it still wouldn’t be the same thing as being in a home with someone completely dedicated to her.

A knock at the door distracts her, forcing her to snap out of her thoughts and straighten her posture to look at it.

She has no idea of who it could be, maybe it’s the landlord? No that’s impossible, her landlord is an eighty years old woman who cannot walk by herself and only uses and old landline (probably the first one ever appeared on the market judging by the sound it does every time she calls) as a way to communicate. There is no way it could be her, it has to be one of her neighbours. Maybe the one who just moved in on the floor below hers going from door to door to meet the other tenants.

Well, whoever it is, Tissaia has full intention to not answer and just pretend she wasn’t at home the next time she runs into them. After all, she has the perfect alibi, she didn’t even turn the lights on since she was too lost in thought to notice the room get gradually darker around her so the apartment looks empty and there is no way this person knows she’s inside.

As soon as the knocking stops she finally gathers the strength to get back up and walks towards the kitchen, determined to cook dinner and finally put all the ideas about fostering out of her mind.

But to her surprise, it remains a recurrent thought during the weekend and when Monday arrives and she has to drive back to her office once again it hasn’t disappeared yet.

By mid-morning Tissaia’s hands are itching with the need to text Llona to know how the case is going. She feels a bit guilty about the whole thing, almost as if she has no right to ask about the kid just because she openly refused to have anything to do with her.

She taps her fingers lightly on her desk; she has deleted and rewritten the message at least four times. Just asking about the kid seems too direct so in the end, she settles for asking her friend to meet up for lunch once again. They usually don’t meet during the weeks except on Fridays but she hopes Llona will be free anyway.

Thankfully, Llona answers in less than five minutes telling her that she will pass by the office and pick her up at noon.

After that time almost feels like it has slowed down and, when her alarm clock rings to tell her that it’s time to go, she gets up so fast that she almost knocks down the chair. There is no need to be nervous, she thinks while walking down the corridor to the exit and passing by a group of colleagues.

Between them, she notices Vilgefortz, which only makes her she speed up her walk. She is not in the mood to speak to him or hear him ask her to have lunch together for the tenth time.

The only time Tissaia had accepted his invite was the first time he asked, obviously it didn’t take long for her to realize the mistake she had done. Because even after half an hour of sitting together he hadn’t let her speak once in favour of telling her the history of his entire life. And that’s definitely an experience she has no desire to repeat.

Of course he sees her, maybe the planets are all aligning against her or maybe she’s been cursed by some witch in the past. She doesn’t know which one is it, she just knows that the timing is awful and the universe probably hates her.

“Tissaia wait.”

Maybe if she clicks her heels on the marble floor hard enough he will get scared and go away? It works for snakes, why wouldn’t it work for him too?

Unfortunately, she still has some common sense and she knows that ignoring Vilgefortz would make her appear terribly rude in front of their colleagues. She has to stop and politely refuse and then she’ll finally be able to leave.

“I was wondering if you’d like to have lunch with me, there is this place at the corner of the street that I love.” He asks fixing his tie and puffing out his chest slightly in a failed attempt to impress her. The way he is acting reminds Tissaia of a peacock. A very boring peacock in a suit.

“Look I’m sorry but I can’t, I’m having lunch with a friend. She’s probably waiting for me outside so I have to go.” Tissaia responds while trying to spot Llona, luckily she is already waiting for her in front of the glass door of the entrance. Her coral suit makes her stand out from all the businessmen dressed in grey and black that are passing by on the sidewalk and Tissaia has never been happier to see her.

Llona seems to notice her too and moves her hands to ask her to come outside.

“There she is, I have to go.” Tissaia says turning away quickly without even giving Vilgefortz the time to say goodbye or, as he already did once, ask her to let him tag along.

Well, she overcame the first obstacle of the day and she did it rather quickly, she just hopes that asking Llona about Yennefer will be as easy as that.

Unfortunately, it’s not, because not even after twenty minutes of sitting together she has mustered the courage to ask. They are sitting at a table outside of their usual restaurant, Llona was the one who proposed to eat outside to enjoy one of the last days of warmth before fall.

The conversation is nice and the food is good as usual but Tissaia can’t avoid feeling a little anxious about the whole thing. Llona on the other hand looks considerably more relaxed than Friday, there is no frantic texting or anything that could give away how the case is going.

Llona hasn’t even mentioned it once. Maybe it’s going well? Tissaia ponders fixing the sleeves of her blouse around her wrists nervously. It’s at least the fifth time she does it in the span of ten minutes, Llona notices it, and she immediately stops talking about babysitting her niece to look at her properly.

“Are you ok? You seem distant, was Vilgefortz bothering you again?” She asks. There is a hint of worry in her voice; Llona has always been very protective of her, even in their school years when the reckless one that actually needed protection was her and not Tissaia. She still remembers the countless times she cried on her shoulder because of some idiotic boy.

Thinking about how they still have each other’s backs even after so many years of friendship makes Tissaia feel like an idiot for worrying. It’s just her friend after all, she won’t tell her off for asking.

“No that’s not the problem, and I’m sorry if I gave you the impression I wasn’t listening. I actually wanted to ask you something.”

Llona rests her chin on her palm and looks at her with a curious expression “What is it? Don’t leave me hanging, come on.”

Ok, she can do it; it’s just one question “I was wondering if you found someone for the child, that’s all.”

She can see the other woman’s expression darken as she breaks eye contact, lowering her head slightly.

“No, the foster family she has now won’t be able to care for her anymore in a few months because they’re about to have twins so she’ll end up in the orphanage.” She pauses for a second before starting to explain again. “She could even go back with her parents if we lose the case but I don’t want to think about that.” Llona looks disgusted at the thought of Yennefer going back to her biological parents.

Tissaia can feel her chest tighten and before she knows it the words have already left her mouth. “Is there still a chance I could foster her?” Shit, she said it, there is no turning back now.

Llona raises her head so quickly that Tissaia wonders how she didn’t break her neck while doing it.

“Are you serious? Tell me it’s not a joke.” There is no need for an answer, Tissaia’s gaze is enough to make her understand she’s not joking.

Then Llona does something unexpected, she gets up from her chair and almost flips the table to try to hug her. Even if Tissaia has never been a hugger she accepts it, she can even swear Llona is crying a bit on her shoulder but she doesn’t say anything about it.

After what felt like ages of very tight hug Llona finally detaches herself and goes back at her chair. She stays silent for a few seconds while she frantically searches for her phone in her purse and then speaks again. “You still have time in your lunch break; I can bring you to the office now to make you start signing stuff, what do you think?”

Tissaia nods, too stunned by what she has just done to answer. Llona smiles at her and it almost feels like a weight was lifted off her chest as she realizes that only time will tell her if she did the right choice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really proud of this chapter but here it is, I hope yall will like it.  
> As usual thanks to Emma for reading my stuff, ily.

The next three and a half months of Tissaia’s life could only be described as torture or, to be even more specific, paperwork hell.

Even if Llona tried her best to speed it up, sometimes even going out of her way to ask favours from other offices, the entire process of applying for fostering still revealed itself to take longer than expected.

Tissaia still has nightmares about the endless amounts of papers she had to sign and about all the questions Yennefer’s caseworker asked her. The interviews she did felt more like interrogations about her lifestyle and job.

And how to forget about the classes, oh those were probably the worst.

She had to sit in a room full of aspiring foster parents, mostly couples who were so enthusiastic it almost looked like they were high on something, and a person explaining the various situations they could come across during the fostering period to them.

Those classes seemed useful at the beginning and they could have been if only Tissaia hadn’t already studied and researched all of those things and more by herself.

And that happened because, exactly three days after she agreed to the whole “I take care of a child and you put her terrible parents in prison” deal, she was taken by the fear of not knowing how to actually handle a toddler. Of course, she knew she was going to follow classes for it since it was required, but at the same time she was afraid that arriving unprepared for said classes would make her look bad.

So, during a night where sleep hadn’t come and after hours of rolling around in bed she got up and decided to write down everything she could find about caring for Toddlers.

She had prepared a binder full of hypothetical problems, writing down the way she could solve them and she even made a list of “necessary stuff” to buy.

The only one who managed to stop her baby frenzy was Llona who managed stop her from buying an entire store of stuff for toddlers by explaining to her that most of the stuff she would need was actually going to be given to her by Yennefer’s old foster family.

That included a stroller, her clothes, a few toys coming from her old house and some other stuff but, as Tissaia only found out much later, not a cradle.

That’s why she found herself in a store, one day before her first meeting with Yennefer, searching for a cradle.

Tissaia, being that kind of person who always plans everything ahead, texted Llona before even stepping foot in the store, asking her everything about what kind of cradle Yennefer would need. She was counting on the fact that she had experience with her niece who, last time Tissaia saw her, was around the same age.

Obviously she was right because after that question she had immediately gotten submerged by texts about sizes and measurements as well as stories about how toddlers are escape artists and trying to contain them is an absolute nightmare.

She wasn’t exactly sure that information was accurate for a normal toddler since Llona’s niece was one of those kids Tissaia would simply describe as “always on cocaine” but she decided to trust her anyway.

When she actually got to the choice she noticed that the options in front of her looked almost endless. Some of the cradles had built-in steps, some had integrated toys and some could even be turned in to bigger platforms for when the toddler would have to do a transition to an actual bed.

Tissaia had not bought one of those of course, given her situation it would have been unreasonable and a waste of money.

No, she needed to choose something more practical.

And that’s exactly what she did, she went for a tall and sturdy looking cradle made in dark wood and paired with a nice blue mattress that, once placed down, would look great with the furniture of the room she converted to Yennefer’s bedroom.

That room was actually her study before and, to make it fit a Toddler’s needs, she had to work a great deal on it. Rearranging the furniture and childproofing everything were probably the biggest changes she had done to her apartment in years and, even if in the beginning the thought of moving everything put her under a great amount of stress, Tissaia was actually proud of how everything turned out.

Well at least until she brought home the cradle and had to build it by herself. Because, after she started taking the pieces out of the box, she had discovered that it wasn’t actually as easy as the instruction on the box made it out to be.

In the end, it took her three hours, a good amount of cursing and one glass of wine to get it to look like it wasn’t about to collapse on itself.

And now, as she walks in the driveway of Yennefer’s soon to be ex foster parents, Tissaia is glad that she chose to build it before she actually brought Yennefer home for the first time.

Doing it afterwards would have been a stupid choice anyway, she thinks, climbing up the steps to the door of the house and closing her umbrella before ringing the bell.

While waiting she hits her boots lightly on the floor to make the mud fall down. She already dreads the moment where she will arrive home and she will have to clean them completely from it.

Saying that Tissaia is tired of the weather in Gors Velen during the winter would be an approximation. She hates the rain and the constant wind so much that she even considered moving away a few times to find a new job in a place where it’s warm all year long, like Toussaint.

When the door finally opens a woman who looks around thirty years old welcomes her. She’s wearing a loose-fitting grey shirt, a pair of sweatpants and her blonde hair is tied back with a hairband. From how tired she looks and by the fact she’s pregnant, just like Llona told her, Tissaia deducts that she is Martha, Yennefer’s current foster parent.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

“I’m Tissaia de Vries. I’m here for Yennefer.” She hopes she hasn’t been too straightforward, she wouldn’t want to come off as rude at such an important first meeting.

Luckily, the other woman seems to appreciate her choice to be direct since she immediately introduces herself and asks Tissaia to follow her inside of the house.

While walking down the hallway she sees that there are a couple of bags on the floor, probably containing Yennefer’s clothes, and some other stuff that she’s positive she’ll have to take with her like a stroller, a still unpacked car seat and a highchair.

When they finally enter the kitchen Tissaia allows herself to look around a bit to distract her mind from how nervous she’s feeling. The walls of the room are painted in a warm shade of orange and the furniture is made of dark wood, it’s not exactly a choice she would make but she recognizes that it looks nice.

“Take a seat please; do you want anything while you wait? I can make coffee, tea or give you a glass of water.” Martha says, indicating the table.

“A glass of water will be fine, thanks,” Tissaia answers while sitting down on one of the chairs close to the window. The only thing betraying her nervousness is the way she’s obsessively fixing the cuffs of her shirt. It’s a habit she’s had for so long that most of the time she doesn’t even notice she’s doing it.

Martha hands her the glass and Tissaia murmurs a thank you before she starts drinking it. The liquid is cold in her mouth and it helps her focus on what’s happening in front of her instead of letting her get swallowed by anxiety.

“I’m sorry this had to happen in such a hurry, I wish you had time to see her before taking her with you,” Martha says, leaning back a little on her chair to stretch her back. She looks very tired and Tissaia hopes taking care of Yennefer won’t make her feel like that.

“She’s is a sweetheart you know? But she can be a little difficult at times. She’s a bit afraid of being left alone so-” she can’t finish the sentence because a distressed wail comes out of a baby monitor placed on the counter.

Tissaia wonders if she should have gotten one too, in those first days of crazy shopping she had actually thought about it but then she discarded the idea. The walls of her apartment are thin enough to hear everything from every room anyway so she definitely doesn’t need it.

Martha gets up immediately and asks her to wait for a second while she checks if Yennefer is fine.

Tissaia hopes it’s nothing particularly bad, it’s literally the first time she sees her and Yennefer manifesting some kind of issue just five minutes after she set foot in the house wouldn’t look like a great start.

She tries to calm herself down by drinking the rest of the water. Toddlers cry, this certainly won’t be the last time she hears Yennefer do it and she’ll have to learn to deal with it quickly if she really wants the fostering to work.

“Look who’s here! It’s finally time for you two to meet.”

Martha reappears in the middle of doorframe; she’s looking down and pointing at Tissaia. Holding tightly to her leg is Yennefer.

She’s wearing a white and black onesie that reminds Tissaia of a zebra and her black, curly hair is all messy from the nap she was probably taking. She is a bit smaller than Tissaia imagined her to be, she knew from her medical reports that she was slightly underweight but seeing her in person feels different.

“Hello Yennefer, I’m Tissaia. Do you know why I’m here?” She asks leaning down a little to see Yennefer’s face better. She really hopes that Yennefer knows what is going on and that she won’t have to deal with a toddler that thinks she’s being kidnapped while driving back home.

Yennefer studies her for a second, her face looking very serious as she detaches herself from Martha’s legs to stare at Tissaia.

“Do you remember what we said? A new mom was going to come today.” Martha explains and Yennefer nods repeating “new mom.”

Tissaia freezes for a second, she was not planning to use the term mom since she isn’t actually going to be fostering her forever, but it looks like it was explained to her like that so she’s just going to leave it, for now.

Yennefer loses interest in her as she yawns, putting her little fist in front of her mouth to cover it, and mumbles “apple.” while tugging at Martha’s pants.

“What do we say?”

“Please?” Yennefer responds.

“You have to say please, exactly.” Martha smiles, then she moves her gaze back to Tissaia.

“She’s hungry, she always is you’ll see,” she explains, walking towards the kitchen while Yennefer promptly follows her, she’s a bit uncertain on her legs and has to lean against the furniture but she manages to keep up.

“I can prepare her a snack before you go but I’ve already packed the highchair so she can’t sit on it, would you mind holding her? These chairs are pretty high and she has a passion for slipping out so I don’t trust her with them.”

Tissaia nods and gets up to reach for Yennefer.

She is surprisingly easy to pick up, Tissaia notices, maybe it’s because she already had some practice with the dummies at the fostering classes or maybe because Yennefer doesn’t offer any resistance but holding her it’s not the big deal Tissaia imagined it would be in the beginning.

With Yennefer she also has to retrieve the plushie that fell from her arms when she picked her up. She hadn’t looked at it when Yennefer entered the room at first but now she has to admit it’s a weird toy.

It’s not a stuffed animal of some kind like most kids have, it’s a green juice box with a red apple on it and even a little stuffed straw that comes out of the top. It’s unusual but Tissaia has to admit that it’s very cute.

Yennefer hugs it tight when she gives it back to her and then, after they sit down, she eats her snack without complaining while the two women talk.

The conversation goes smoothly and by the end of it, Tissaia is satisfied with how easy it was and how much she has learned about Yennefer’s likes and dislikes, even if she’s not sure she’ll be able to remember all of it.

Even moving all the bags is no problem at all, she manages to put everything in the trunk and put Yennefer’s car seat in place without any particular problem. The rain has even stopped, giving her the possibility to carry out multiple things at once without having to worry about them getting wet.

Just as she thinks that they’re finally done and they can go home she gets the opportunity to see for the first time what Yennefer does when she doesn’t like something.

In this case, the unfortunate victim of Yennefer’s hate is the blue raincoat that she has to wear to get out of the house.

She has been trying really hard to convince her to put it on for the last fifteen minutes but it’s a useless battle, Yennefer stomps her feet and cries so loudly that Tissaia is afraid the neighbours will think that someone is getting murdered.

She briefly thinks about just letting Yennefer not wear it but she discards the idea almost immediately, the wind is too strong and it’s too cold outside to leave Yennefer without a coat and, on the other side, she doesn’t want her to think she can do anything she wants just by crying a bit.

Since the coat itself seems to be the problem, changing it can be the solution, Tissaia ponders. Unfortunately, there are no other coats out so she can’t change it.

Tissaia looks at the raincoat in her hands, it’s made of a blue fabric covered in a thin layer of plastic to make it waterproof and the inside is a darker shade of blue that almost looks purple. It’s not scary at all and she doesn’t understand why Yennefer is against wearing it.

Then, an idea starts to form in her mind, if she can’t get a different coat maybe she can make this one look different.

Since the inside is a different colour and it’s possible to turn it inside out it may convince Yennefer. She quickly rushes to the other room to avoid the toddler seeing her and she reverses it completely. When she comes back she’s surprised to see that the ploy actually works and Yennefer lets Tissaia put it on her easily, bubbling “it’s purple! Purple!” while she does it.

When all the preparations are finished, including making Yennefer wear boots and a hat, Tissaia decides to wait for a second at the door to let Martha and Yennefer say goodbye to each other properly.

To her surprise, it’s not the dramatic deal she expected. She knows Yennefer is used to be moved around foster families and she hasn’t been in this one long so the separation is easier but she still expected some tears, instead there is nothing except for a very short hug.

She finally puts Yennefer in her car seat and after some more recommendations from Martha and the promise to call if they ever need help they’re ready to go.

As Tissaia starts the car she looks at Yennefer in the rearview mirror. All the coat drama must have tired her out because she looks like she’s about to fall asleep any second. It’s a good thing, Tissaia thinks. Hopefully the first of many others. 


End file.
